Microsoft SDKs

Microsoft has recently announced new certification exam tracks for Azure Administrators, Developers and Architects. Here are the line ups that should help you move your career with right certifications.

The three new Microsoft Azure Certifications are:

Microsoft Certified Azure Developer

Microsoft Certified Azure Administrator

Microsoft Certified Azure Architect

These certifications would essentially split the previous MCSA/MCSE: Cloud Platform and Infrastructure track and introduce new exams for individual certification track.

So far I only have limited information available about all the exam numbers for each individual track, as recently Microsoft has made BETA exams available for Microsoft Certified Azure Administrator track.

If you don’t have 070-533 exam certification from previous tracks then doing the following exams would would provide you Administrator track certification.

Azure Cosmos DB is a multi-API, multi-model highly scalable NoSQL database services from Microsoft Azure platform. In order to develop an application consuming Azure Cosmos DB requires an azure live subscription or emulator in your local machine.

The Azure Cosmos DB Emulator provides a local development/test environment for Azure Cosmos DB development purposes. Using Azure Cosmos DB Emulator, you can develop and test your application locally, without needing an azure subscription or without subscription costs.

With this article I am going to take you through necessary steps and requirements to set up your local environment.

1. Pre-Requisites:

Azure Cosmos DB emulator has the following software and hardware requirements:

Software requirements

Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2016, or Windows 10

Minimum Hardware requirements

2 GB RAM

10 GB available hard disk space

2. Installation:

Download Azure Cosmos DB Emulator (DocumentDb.Install.msi) **do not get confused by the name. Azure Cosmos DB is a super set of Document DB, and the DocumentDb emulator they tweaked a bit to support Cosmos Db.

Install DocumentDb.Install.msi

Additionally Azure CosmosDB emulator can be run on Docker for Windows. After installing Docker for Windows, you can pull the Emulator image from Docker Hub.

docker pull microsoft/azure-documentdb-emulator

3. Start/Launch Azure Cosmos DB Emulator:

After some time you can see the emulator started. When the Azure Cosmos DB emulator launches it will automatically open the Azure Cosmos DB Data Explorer in your browser.

Since the Azure Cosmos DB Emulator provides an emulated environment running on a local developer workstation, there are some fundamental differences between the emulator and an Azure Cosmos DB account in the cloud:

The following table is also helpful in determining when to use Cosmos DB Emulator and when direct cloud service. Depending on the choice of requirement, you would need to use associated services efficiently.

Cosmos DB Emulator

Cosmos DB Cloud Service

Supports only a single fixed account and a well-known master key. Key regeneration is not possible.

Supports multiple accounts and different master keys. You can regenerate keys any time from Azure Portal.

Windows Azure SDK for .NET, which include SDKs, basic tools, and extended tools for Visual Studio development for Azure Cloud enabled applications. Microsoft has released latest Azure SDK for .NET along with Visual Studio 2017 (RTW). The new version v3.0 will support only Visual Studio 2015/2017, if you are using Visual Studio 2013 you can use Azure SDK for .NET v2.9.6.

You can have both the version side by side, by uninstalling earlier version first for Visual Studio 2013 and installing latest version to support newer visual studio.

There is not much major changes included in this release:

All the tools you need to do Azure development will be part of Visual Studio 2017 going forward.

For Visual Studio 2015 the SDK will still be available through WebPI.

Microsoft have discontinued Azure SDK for .NET releases for Visual Studio 2013 now that Visual Studio 2017 has been released.

Microsoft Azure IoT Suite Provisioned solutions will help you create your own fully integrated solutions tailored for your specific needs in the following 3 sections. Using these ready to consume solutions will accelerate your time to market IoT(Internet of Things) requirements.

Remote Monitoring – Connect and monitor your devices to analyze untapped data and improve business outcomes by automating processes. For ex: As a car manufacturing company, provide an option to customer to remotely monitor their car condition, and suggest if they need a re-fuel or oil change.

Predictive Maintenance – Connect and monitor your factory industrial devices for insights using OPC UA to drive operational productivity. For ex: As a car service support, you can get near real-time performance data from the cars manufactured by your company, predict the health of each components in a car and offer timely maintenance to their cars. Send real-time reminders and notifications to customers. Their by ensuring higher satisfaction levels for customers and more business value to the organization as it attracts more sales and good customer feedback.

These solutions will help you to:

Connect and scale quickly – Use preconfigured solutions, and accelerate the development of your Internet of Things (IoT) solution.

“In learning you will teach, and in teaching you will learn.” -Phil Collins

About

Nithin Mohan – A passionate hardcore application programmer, software architect, and technology evangelist with over 13 years of experience in Web, Mobile, and Cloud applications design and development.
A hardware geek, a kick-starter, and a quick learner.

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